DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYSIS
1 – New railway proposal for Kerala: GS III – Infrastructure-related issues
Context:
- It has been proposed to build a new, semi-high-speed railway in Kerala; its predicted average speed is 125 kmph.
In relation to the project:
- A semi-high-speed train using regular gauge tracks has recently been proposed.
- The new proposal is intended to replace the 64,000 crore Thiruvananthapuram-Kasaragod SilverLineproject, which envisaged for covering the 530 km at a speed of around 135 kmph on average.
- The proposed corridor would have a design speed of 200 kmph and may be connected to high-speed or semi-high-speed rail projects on standard gauge.
- The State government assigned the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) the task of creating a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for a high-speed rail corridor in 2014.
- The government rejected the DPR in 2015 because it was deemed to be excessively expensive and ambitious.
- On the other hand, the KRDCL’s 2021 SilverLineproject, which required building over a massive embankment raised above the earth and called for a sizable degree of population displacement, was met with vehement opposition.
Increasing automobile numbers in the state:
- Over 4,000 people are killed in accidents each year in the State, where there are approximately 1.5 crore automobiles, or one vehicle for every two persons.
Moving forward:
- The Railways has planned initiatives to straighten curves and strengthen existing rails to allow trains moving at up to 110 kmph.
- Additionally, efforts will be made to push the speed up to 130 kmph and then to 160 kmph in the future.
Source The Hindu
2 – Kanwar yatra: GS I – Indian Culture
Context:
- Tens of thousands of pilgrims carried water from Shiva shrines to the Ganga and other revered waterways during the annual Kanwar Yatra, which just finished.
With regards to the Kanwar Yatra:
- A pilgrimage known as the Kanwar Yatra is organised during the lunar month of Shravan (Saavan).
- In the past, saffron-clad pilgrims undertook the yatra, or pilgrimage, in trucks and other vehicles to the several Shiva temples while walking barefoot and carrying water pitchers.
The Gangetic plains receive water from revered locations like:
- Sultanganj in Bihar.
- You can get to Prayagraj, Ayodhya, or Varanasi from Uttar Pradesh.
- Devotees balance the holy water pitchers on Kanwars, ornate slings, while carrying them on their shoulders.
- At revered locations like the 12 Jyotirlingas or specific temples like: The pilgrims use the water to worship Shiva lingas at these locations.
- the Pura Mahadeva and the Augharnath Temple in Meerut,
- Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi,
- Jharkhand’s Baidyanath Dham is Deoghar.
- An important occasion known as the Kavadi festival, which is analogous to the Kanwar yatra in North India, is observed in Tamil Nadu, the state where Lord Muruga is revered.
- legend around the ritual
Legend of Samudra Manthan:
- The narrative of the event has its roots in the “samudra manthan,” one of the most well-known episodes in Hindu mythology that depicts the creation of “amrita,” or the “nectar of immortality.”
- In accordance with the narrative, the manthan exploded into a plethora of divine entities, including amrita and “halahala,” or a lethal poison.
- Lord Shiva the Destroyer set fire to the halahala to stop it from spreading.
- Shiva is traditionally given water in an effort to counteract the poison’s effects.
The legend of Lord Parashuram:
- A second origin story for the Kanwar yatra has Lord Parashuram, a devotee of Shiva.
- The first Kanwar yatra is believed to have been initiated by Parashuram.
- Due to the fact that he was passing by the place Pura in modern-day Uttar Pradesh, he felt the urge to construct a Shiva temple there.
- According to legend, Parashuram delivered Gangajal to Shiva on Mondays during the Shravana month.
Centres for pious travel:
- To bring water from the Saryu River to the nearby Kshireshwar Mahadev Temple, inhabitants of Eastern Uttar Pradesh trek to Ayodhya.
- Others fly to Varanasi to deliver Ganga water to Baba Vishwanath.
- Another important temple that pilgrims visit is the Lodheshwar Mahadev temple in Barabanki.
Source The Hindu
3 – Alzheimer’s disease: GS II – Health-related issues
Context:
- Less than two weeks after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fully approved an Alzheimer’s medication developed by Biogen and Eisai, Eli Lilly’s monoclonal antibody donanemab was shown to significantly slow the progression of the disease if provided early.
Important details:
- Lecanemab, a monoclonal antibody that can reduce the amyloid beta protein plaques in the brain, which are a sign of Alzheimer’s disease, received “accelerated” approval.
- The drug donanemab is not able to treat Alzheimer’s disease.
- Instead, they are antibodies that selectively target different amyloid-beta (A) protein subtypes that can assemble in the brain to form amyloid plaques, which can cause cognitive decline.
- The drug aims to remove the plaques from the brain and stop the progression of the illness.
Challenges:
- Donanemab therapy would require early diagnosis, careful patient selection, eligibility screening, and more expensive testing.
- It would be necessary to examine people who were being screened for the APOE4 gene, which has been associated with a higher risk of adverse events.
- According to the paper, in order to evaluate the levels of protein abnormalities in the brain both before and after therapy, specialised, expensive PET scans, which are uncommon in clinical settings, would be necessary.
- The cost of the medicine as well as the biomarker and imaging analysis will be high.
In relation to the ailment:
- Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, which is distinguished by a continuous decline in mental, behavioural, and social skills and reduces a person’s capacity for independent functioning.
- Early signs of the illness include forgetting previous interactions or events.
- As Alzheimer’s disease progresses, a person will have severe memory loss and lose their ability to perform fundamental tasks.
- As of right now, there is no drug for Alzheimer’s that can halt the disease’s progression in the brain.
- Worldwide, there are at least 55 million people who have Alzheimer’s disease.
- Alzheimer’s disease is the type of dementia that is most common.
- Dementia is the sixth leading cause of death among older individuals globally and one of the major reasons of dependency and disability.
Source The Hindu
4 – BIMARU states: GS II – Social issues
Context:
- The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister asserted that the state has moved past its BIMARU reputation and is now having a beneficial impact on India’s development.
The acronym “BIMARU” stands for the five states that follow:
- Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, UP, and MP.
- These states were viewed as being economically and socially backward in the 1980s and 1990s.
- The term was coined in the 1980s by economist Ashish Bose to describe the poor economic and social indicators of these states.
- The phrase “BIMARU” is a combination of the Hindi words “bimar” (sick) and “ru” (a suffix that signifies “land of”).
These are some characteristics of BIMARU:
- low per-capita income.
- pronounced poverty rates.
- low literacy rates.
- poor health indices.
- agriculture-based economic system.
- a sizable populace.
Impact of BIMARU states on population growth:
- By 2026, the population of the previously BIMARU states—which comprised 41% of all of India’s inhabitants in 2001—would have risen to 43.5%.
- The south will only contribute 12.6% of the increase in India’s population in absolute terms between 2001 and 26 (BIMARU states’ contribution).
- BIMARU states will account for 49.1% of the population growth in India between 2011 and 2036, according to a 2020 forecast by the National Commission on Population of the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (excluding the three recently carved out states).
- A 2015 IIM Ahmedabad assessment on the medical services in these states found that there are gaps.
- All of these states, including Rajasthan (61.19), Bihar (17.83), MP (7.53), and UP (3.91), have fewer rural and total government hospitals per million population than the national average (20.74), which is 20.74.
- Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh were ranked last out of 19 large states in the 2019–20 Health Index Round IV by NITI Aayog (from highest to lowest).
Source The Hindu
5 – Rock art of Rudragiri: GS I – Indian Culture
Context:
- Rock art has recently been discovered on the Rudragiri mountain in Andhra Pradesh.
Important details:
- This location displays a fusion of stunning Kakatiya dynasty artwork and Mesolithic prehistoric rock art.
- Rudragiri, which is part of the Eastern Ghats, contains five naturally occurring west-facing rock shelters at its foothills.
- People lived in these shelters in the Mesolithic era around 5000 B.C., as shown by the colourful rock art of the time.
- A narrative artwork representing the great conflict between the Vanara brothers, Vali and Sugriva, can be found in the first cave, which is located at the southernmost point of the mound.
- In the middle cave, there is a sizable picture of Hanuman as well as symbols for the sacred conch (Sankha) and fire altar (Yagna Vedi).
- Hanuman is seen holding the Sanjivani hill in his hand to symbolise his goal of saving Lakshmana’s life.
- The third cave has archaic rock art from the Mesolithic era.
- The Ramayana characters do not overshadow or diminish the scenic magnificence of the Mesolithic art.
Source The Hindu
